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Lightsail basics

- [Instructor] Let's start off by exploringsome of the Lightsail basicsbefore diving in and creating a WordPress site.Fundamentally, Lightsail offers you the abilityto create virtual private servers.A virtual private server or a VPSis simply a server that you can accesswithout worrying about the underlying infrastructure.Lightsail offers a limited range of prebuilt servers,running some of the most popularopensource software packages.Some of the available applications includeWordPress for web publishingand both Drupal and Joomla for content management.

Some of the worlds most scalable, resilient systemsare built on AWS.Unsurprisingly, the level of knowledge requiredto get up and running in AWS is relatively high.AWS provides expert tools,and expert knowledge is needed to be productive.To operate effectively in AWS,you need domain knowledge,including the global layout of AWS regionsand available zones,identity and access management, networking,information security, EC2 instances families,and AWS storage options, just to name a few.

Lightsail, on the other hand, is much more approachable.Put simply, Lightsail is a virtual private server.You don't have to think about the underlying infrastructure.Lightsail is super easy to manage.You can do it all via the simplified Lightsail web console.That said, it is important to knowthat Lightsail can grow with you,and you can integrate with other AWS servicesas your needs grow.It's worth understanding where Lightsail livesin the context of AWS in general.

When you first create an AWS account,you can use its global infrastructure.AWS subdivides the world into regions.One of those regions is located in Northern Virginia.Within a region, there are multiple availability zonesor AZs.Each AZ is a physically isolated data center.They are connected to each otherwith high speed network connections.Inside your AWS account is default virtual private cloudor VPC.It is a private space where you can run IT servicesand can spread them out across availability.

Lightsail is manifested in its own VPC.However, it is hidden from the AWS console.The only way you can manipulate the servicesinside of Lightsail is from within the Lightsail console.However, if you find yourself needing to connectto other AWS resources from Lightsail servers,it is possible to establish a VPC paring connectionbetween the hidden Lightsail VPCand the default VPC in your account.

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Released

7/11/2017

Amazon Lightsail is a member of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Compute family. It simplifies the process of deploying a virtual private server using preconfigured templates for a Linux distribution, application, or dev stack—including WordPress, Magento, and LAMP. This short course provides an overview of Lightsail to help you get up and running in this service. Sharif Nijim discusses how it compares with the AWS cloud platform, as well as the kinds of servers you can create in Lightsail, operational metrics for Lightsail servers, data protection, and how to connect Lightsail with AWS through VPC peering. Sharif wraps up the course by touching on advanced concepts, including APIs, SDKs, and the Lightsail CLI.